it was in the end game on the fiscal -- on the debt ceiling negotiations in 2011. literally july 27th, 2:30 in the afternoon, jack lew, who's in the white house chief of staff, rob neighbors, the head of congressional relations for president obama, went to see harry reid and proposed sequester. of course, everyone signed up to it, but it was designed to not happen. the cuts were perceived to be so draconian in domestic policy and in defense issues that no one would ever let this happen. it was the super committee, as you may remember, that was supposed to come up with more rational budget cuts. they failed. so we're stuck with -- it's kind of like being on a cruise ship with no power. >> where you have the captain and crew fighting each other and going around in circles. i don't get this, bob. you write this book about how the president and congress talk past each other. we have an election. we hear they might start talking together in a more positive sense. yet, here we have a situation that the defense industry hates, that advocates for the poor hate, that econom